Gram Pod Borer

Symptom

The damage caused by the larvae to foliage is similar to that caused by the tobacco and hairry caterpillars but it prefers to feed on flowers and buds. Small or large irregular feeding holes on the leaves. Young larvae enter leaf bud by making a pin-hole. These pin-holes from mirror images on the expanded leaf. The larvae feed on flowers by preference and also on foliage, when full grown, they leave the plant, burrow the soil to a depth of 2-18 cm and pupate. Severe infestation leads to complete defoliation leaving only the stems and branches in the field.